A song from Disney's "The Little Mermaid" is causing big controversy for a Princeton University a cappella group.
According to The New York Times, the Princeton Tigertones said they will temporarily stop performing "Kiss the Girl" after critics questioned the group's practice of bringing a man and woman from the audience onstage and encouraging them to kiss when the song ends.
"Lyrics such as, 'It's possible she wants you too/There's one way to ask her/It don't take a word, not a single word/Go on and kiss the girl, kiss the girl,' and 'she won't say a word/Until you kiss that girl,' unambiguously encourage men to make physical advances on women without obtaining their clear consent," Princeton sophomore Noa Wollstein wrote in an op-ed for The Daily Princetonian last month.
Wollstein continued: "The fervor with which the all-male Tones press the man to kiss the female subject eerily amplifies the song's assertions of toxic masculinity. The absence of opportunity for the chosen woman to protest at a Tigertones show mimics the song's acceptance of the woman's lack of consent to being kissed."
>> Watch the group perform the song here
Tigertones President Wesley Brown responded with a letter to the editor in Friday's Princetonian.
"Because of these concerns, we are removing 'Kiss the Girl' from our active repertoire until we can arrive at a way to perform it that is comfortable and enjoyable for every member of our audience," Brown wrote.
The complaints quickly sparked backlash on social media. Here's what some people were saying:
About the Author
